Parker Point - Rottnest Island snorkelling

Parker Point has one of Rottnest's most extensive coral reefs, with an 800-metre underwater snorkel trail marked by 12 interpretive plaques on the seabed. It is best known for its pink coral, Pocillopora damicornis, which gives the reef its other name, Pocillopora Reef.

The trail follows an underwater limestone ridge out to the edge of the Parker Point Sanctuary Zone and back. Close to the point the coral clumps start sparse among sand and seagrass, then pack so tightly that they lie on top of one another. Rottnest is near the southern limit for this coral, whose larvae are carried down the coast by the warm Leeuwin Current. The colonies are delicate, so keep your fins well clear.

The reef is busy with fish: moon wrasse and other brightly coloured wrasses, dusky and red-lipped morwong, buffalo bream, scalyfin, zebra fish, moonlighters, horseshoe leatherjackets and schools of herring, among sponges and seagrass. Watch too for large eagle rays cruising around the point. The plaques describe what you will meet, and the trail takes about an hour.

• Experience level: Easy
• Depth: 1-5 m
• Access: Island Explorer Stop 5 (Parker Point); about 17-20 minutes by bike from Thomson Bay. Public toilets, including accessible facilities, and a ramp onto the beach (RIA). An 800 m snorkel trail with 12 seabed plaques; walk south along the beach to the rocky point to get in (owner's guide). A popular boat anchorage - watch for boats. Swell washing over the reef can cause cuts (owner's guide).
• 800m Snorkel Trail
• 12 Interpretive Plaques
• Marine Sanctuary Zone
• Pink Pocillopora Coral
• Eagle Rays
• Accessible Facilities

See live conditions for every Rottnest Island snorkelling spot